International Christian communion
This article is about churches in full communion with the archbishop of Canterbury. For the Christian tradition originating in the Church of England, see
Anglicanism
.
The
Anglican Communion
is the
third largest
Christian
communion
after the
Roman Catholic
and
Eastern Orthodox
churches.
[2]
[3]
[4]
Formally founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members
[5]
[6]
[7]
within the
Church of England
and other
autocephalous
national and regional churches in full communion.
[8]
The traditional origins of
Anglican doctrine
are summarised in the
Thirty-nine Articles
(1571). The
archbishop of Canterbury
(as of 2024
[update]
,
Justin Welby
) in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as
primus inter pares
("first among equals"), but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional
Anglican
churches.
[
citation needed
]
The Anglican Communion was officially and formally organised and recognised as such at the
Lambeth Conference
in 1867 in London under the leadership of
Charles Longley
, Archbishop of Canterbury. The churches of the Anglican Communion consider themselves to be part of the
one, holy, catholic and apostolic church
, and to be both
Catholic
and
Reformed
. As in the Church of England itself, the Anglican Communion includes the
broad spectrum of beliefs and liturgical practises
found in the
Evangelical
,
Central
and
Anglo-Catholic
traditions of Anglicanism. Each national or regional church is fully independent, retaining its own legislative process and
episcopal polity
under the leadership of local
primates
. For some adherents, Anglicanism represents a non-papal Catholicism, for others a form of
Protestantism
though without a guiding figure such as
Martin Luther
,
John Knox
,
John Calvin
,
Huldrych Zwingli
,
John Wesley
or
Jan Hus
,
or, for yet others, a combination of the two.
Most of its members live in the
Anglosphere
of former British territories. Full participation in the sacramental life of each church is available to all communicant members. Because of their historical link to England (
ecclesia anglicana
means "English church"), some of the member churches are known as "Anglican", such as the
Anglican Church of Canada
. Others, for example the
Church of Ireland
and the
Scottish
and
American
Episcopal churches, have official names that do not include "Anglican". Conversely, some churches that do use the name "Anglican" are not part of the communion. These have generally disaffiliated over disagreement with the direction of the communion.
On 20 February 2023, ten communion provinces and Anglican realignment churches within the
Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches
released a statement stating that they had declared "
impaired communion
" with the Church of England and no longer recognised
Justin Welby
as "first among equals" among the bishops of the communion,
de facto
marking a schism within the Anglican Communion.
[10]
[11]
History
[
edit
]
The Anglican Communion traces much of its growth to the older mission organisations of the Church of England such as the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
(founded 1698), the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
(founded 1701) and the
Church Missionary Society
(founded 1799).
[12]
[note 2]
[note 3]
The Church of England (which until the 20th century included the
Church in Wales
) initially separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 in the reign of
Henry VIII
, reunited briefly in 1555 under
Mary I
and then separated again in 1570 under
Elizabeth I
(the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Elizabeth I in 1570 in response to the
Act of Supremacy 1559
).
[15]
The Church of England has always thought of itself not as a new foundation but rather as a reformed continuation of the ancient "English Church" (
Ecclesia Anglicana
) and a reassertion of that church's rights. As such it was a distinctly national phenomenon. The
Church of Scotland
was formed as a separate church from the Roman Catholic Church as a result of the
Scottish Reformation
in 1560 and the later formation of the
Scottish Episcopal Church
began in 1582 in the reign of
James VI
over disagreements about the role of bishops.
[16]
[17]
The oldest-surviving Anglican church building outside the British Isles (Britain and Ireland) is
St Peter's Church
in
St George's
,
Bermuda
, established in 1612 (though the actual building had to be rebuilt several times over the following century). This is also the oldest surviving non-Roman Catholic church in the
New World
.
[18]
It remained part of the Church of England until 1978 when the
Anglican Church of Bermuda
was formed. The Church of England was the established church not only in England, but in its trans-Oceanic colonies. Thus the only member churches of the present Anglican Communion existing by the mid-18th century were the Church of England, its closely linked sister church the
Church of Ireland
(which also separated from Roman Catholicism under Henry VIII) and the Scottish Episcopal Church which for parts of the 17th and 18th centuries was partially underground (it was suspected of
Jacobite
sympathies).
Global spread of Anglicanism
[
edit
]
The enormous expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries of the
British Empire
brought Anglicanism along with it. At first all these colonial churches were under the jurisdiction of the
bishop of London
. After the
American Revolution
, the parishes in the newly independent country found it necessary to break formally from a church whose
supreme governor
was (and remains) the
British monarch
. Thus they formed their own dioceses and national church, the
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
, in a mostly amicable separation.
[19]
At about the same time, in the colonies which remained linked to the crown, the Church of England began to appoint colonial bishops. In 1787,
Charles Inglis
(
Bishop of Nova Scotia
) was appointed with a jurisdiction over all of British North America;
[20]
in time several more colleagues were appointed to other cities in present-day Canada. In 1814, a
bishop of Calcutta
was made; in 1824 the first bishop was sent to the
West Indies
and in 1836 to Australia. By 1840 there were still only ten colonial bishops for the Church of England; but even this small beginning greatly facilitated the growth of Anglicanism around the world. In 1841, a "Colonial Bishoprics Council" was set up and soon many more dioceses were created.
In time, it became natural to group these into provinces and a
metropolitan bishop
was appointed for each province. Although it had at first been somewhat established in many colonies, in 1861 it was ruled that, except where specifically established, the Church of England had just the same legal position as any other church. Thus a colonial bishop and colonial diocese was by nature quite a different thing from their counterparts back home. In time bishops came to be appointed locally rather than from England and eventually national synods began to pass ecclesiastical legislation independent of England.
A crucial step in the development of the modern communion was the idea of the
Lambeth Conferences
(discussed above).
[21]
These conferences demonstrated that the bishops of disparate churches could manifest the unity of the church in their episcopal collegiality despite the absence of universal legal ties. Some bishops were initially reluctant to attend, fearing that the meeting would declare itself a council with power to legislate for the church; but it agreed to pass only advisory resolutions. These Lambeth Conferences have been held roughly every ten years since 1878 (the second such conference) and remain the most visible coming-together of the whole communion.
The Lambeth Conference of 1998 included what has been seen by
Philip Jenkins
and others as a "watershed in global Christianity". The 1998 Lambeth Conference considered the issue of the theology of same-sex attraction in relation to human sexuality. At this 1998 conference for the first time in centuries the Christians of developing regions, especially, Africa, Asia and Latin America, prevailed over the bishops of more prosperous countries (many from the US, Canada and the UK) who supported a redefinition of Anglican doctrine. Seen in this light, 1998 is a date that marked the shift from a West-dominated Christianity to one wherein the growing churches of the two-thirds world are predominant.
Differences and controversies
[
edit
]
Some effects of the Anglican Communion's dispersed authority have been differences of opinion (and conflicts) arising over divergent practices and doctrines in parts of the communion.
Disputes that had been confined to the Church of England could be dealt with legislatively in that realm, but as the communion spread out into new countries and territories, and disparate cultures, controversies often multiplied and intensified. These controversies have generally been of two types: liturgical and social.
Rapid social change and the dissipation of British cultural hegemony over its former colonies contributed to disputes over the role of women, and the parameters of marriage and divorce. In the late 1970s, the
Continuing Anglican movement
produced a number of new church bodies in opposition to
women's ordination
, prayer book changes, and the new understandings concerning marriage.
Anglo-Catholicism
[
edit
]
The first such controversy of note concerned that of the growing influence of the
Catholic Revival
manifested in the
Tractarian
and so-called
Ritualist
controversies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This controversy produced the
Free Church of England
and, in the United States and Canada, the
Reformed Episcopal Church
.
Abortion and euthanasia
[
edit
]
While individual Anglicans and member churches within the communion differ in good faith over the circumstances in which abortion should or should not be permitted,
Lambeth Conference
resolutions have consistently held to a conservative view on the issue. The 1930 conference, the first to be held since the initial legalisation of abortion in Europe (in
Russia
in 1920), stated:
[26]
The Conference further records its abhorrence of the sinful practice of abortion.
The 1958 conference's
Family in Contemporary Society
report affirmed the following position on abortion
[27]
and was commended by the 1968 ccnference:
[28]
In the strongest terms Christians reject the practice of induced abortion or infanticide, which involves the killing of a life already conceived (as well as a violation of the personality of the mother), save at the dictate of strict and undeniable medical necessity ... the sacredness of life is, in Christian eyes, an absolute which should not be violated.
The subsequent Lambeth Conference, in 1978, made no change to this position and commended the need for "programmes at diocesan level, involving both men and women ... to emphasise the sacredness of all human life, the moral issues inherent in clinical abortion, and the possible implications of genetic engineering."
[29]
In the context of debates around and proposals for the legalisation of
euthanasia
and
assisted suicide
, the 1998 conference affirmed that "life is God-given and has intrinsic sanctity, significance and worth".
[30]
Same-sex unions and LGBT clergy
[
edit
]
More recently, disagreements over homosexuality have strained the unity of the communion as well as its relationships with other Christian denominations, leading to another round of withdrawals from the Anglican Communion.
Some churches were founded outside the Anglican Communion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, largely in opposition to the ordination of openly homosexual bishops and other clergy and are usually referred to as belonging to the
Anglican realignment
movement, or else as "orthodox" Anglicans.
These disagreements were especially noted when the
Episcopal Church (US)
consecrated an openly gay bishop in a same-sex relationship,
Gene Robinson
, in 2003, which led some Episcopalians to defect and found the
Anglican Church in North America
(ACNA); then, the debate reignited when the Church of England agreed to allow clergy to enter into same-sex
civil partnerships
, as long as they remained celibate, in 2005.
[32]
The
Church of Nigeria
opposed the Episcopal Church's decision as well as the Church of England's approval for celibate civil partnerships.
[33]
"The more liberal provinces that are open to changing Church doctrine on marriage in order to allow for same-sex unions include
Brazil
,
Canada
,
New Zealand
,
Scotland
,
South India
,
South Africa
, the
US
and
Wales
".
[34]
In 2023, the Church of England announced that it will authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples".
[35]
[36]
[37]
The Church of England also permits clergy to enter into same-sex civil partnerships.
[38]
In 2023, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's bishops approved the drafting of prayers that could be said with same-sex couples and the draft prayers were published for consideration in 2024.
[39]
[40]
[41]
The
Church of Ireland
has no official position on civil unions, and one senior cleric has entered into a same-sex civil partnership.
[42]
The Church of Ireland recognised that it will "treat civil partners the same as spouses".
[43]
The
Anglican Church of Australia
does not have an official position on homosexuality.
[44]
The conservative Anglican churches encouraging the realignment movement are more concentrated in the Global South. For example, the
Anglican Church of Kenya
, the Church of Nigeria and the
Church of Uganda
have opposed homosexuality.
[45]
GAFCON
, a fellowship of conservative Anglican churches, has appointed "missionary bishops" in response to the disagreements with the perceived liberalisation in the Anglican churches in North America and Europe.
[46]
In 2023, ten archbishops within the Anglican Communion and two breakaway churches in North America and Brazil from the
Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches
(GSFA) declared a state of impaired communion with the Church of England and announced that they would no longer recognise the archbishop of Canterbury as the "first among equals" among the bishops in the Anglican Communion.
[47]
However, in the same statement, the ten archbishops said that they would not leave the Anglican Communion.
[48]
Debates about social theology and ethics have occurred at the same time as debates on prayer book revision and the acceptable grounds for achieving full communion with non-Anglican churches.
Ecclesiology, polity and ethos
[
edit
]
The Anglican Communion has no official legal existence nor any governing structure that might exercise authority over the member churches. There is an Anglican Communion Office in London, under the aegis of the
archbishop of Canterbury
, but it serves only in a supporting and organisational role. The communion is held together by a shared history, expressed in its
ecclesiology
,
polity
and
ethos
, and also by participation in international consultative bodies.
Three elements have been important in holding the communion together: first, the shared ecclesial structure of the component churches, manifested in an
episcopal polity
maintained through the
apostolic succession
of bishops and
synodical
government; second, the principle of belief expressed in worship, investing importance in approved prayer books and their rubrics; and third, the historical documents and the writings of early Anglican
divines
that have influenced the ethos of the communion.
Originally, the Church of England was self-contained and relied for its unity and identity on its own history, its traditional legal and episcopal structure, and its status as an
established church
of the state. As such, Anglicanism was from the outset a movement with an explicitly episcopal polity, a characteristic that has been vital in maintaining the unity of the communion by conveying the episcopate's role in manifesting visible catholicity and ecumenism.
Early in its development following the
English Reformation
, Anglicanism developed a vernacular prayer book, called the
Book of Common Prayer
. Unlike other traditions, Anglicanism has never been governed by a
magisterium
nor by appeal to one founding
theologian
, nor by an extra-credal summary of doctrine (such as the
Westminster Confession
of the
Presbyterian
churches). Instead, Anglicans have typically appealed to the
Book of Common Prayer
(1662) and its offshoots as a guide to Anglican theology and practise. This has had the effect of inculcating in Anglican identity and confession the principle of
lex orandi, lex credendi
("the law of praying [is] the law of believing").
Protracted conflict through the 17th century, with radical Protestants on the one hand and Roman Catholics who recognised the primacy of the Pope on the other, resulted in an association of churches that was both deliberately vague about doctrinal principles, yet bold in developing parameters of acceptable deviation. These parameters were most clearly articulated in the various rubrics of the successive prayer books, as well as the
Thirty-nine Articles
of Religion (1563). These articles have historically shaped and continue to direct the ethos of the communion, an ethos reinforced by its interpretation and expansion by such influential early theologians such as
Richard Hooker
,
Lancelot Andrewes
and
John Cosin
.
With the expansion of the
British Empire
and the growth of Anglicanism outside Great Britain and Ireland, the communion sought to establish new vehicles of unity. The first major expressions of this were the
Lambeth Conferences
of the communion's bishops, first convened in 1867 by
Charles Longley
, the archbishop of Canterbury. From the beginning, these were not intended to displace the autonomy of the emerging provinces of the communion, but to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action".
[50]
Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral
[
edit
]
One of the enduringly influential early resolutions of the conference was the so-called
Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral
of 1888. Its intent was to provide the basis for discussions of reunion with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, but it had the ancillary effect of establishing parameters of Anglican identity. It establishes four principles with these words:
[51]
That, in the opinion of this Conference, the following Articles supply a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion:
(a) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.
(b) The
Apostles' Creed
, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the
Nicene Creed
, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
(c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself ? Baptism and the
Supper of the Lord
? ministered with unfailing use of Christ's
Words of Institution
, and of the elements ordained by Him.
(d) The
Historic Episcopate
, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church.
Instruments of communion
[
edit
]
As mentioned above, the Anglican Communion has no international juridical organisation. The archbishop of Canterbury's role is strictly symbolic and unifying and the communion's three international bodies are consultative and collaborative, their resolutions having no legal effect on the autonomous provinces of the communion. Taken together, however, the four do function as "instruments of communion", since all churches of the communion participate in them. In order of antiquity, they are:
- The
archbishop of Canterbury
functions as the spiritual head of the communion.
[52]
The archbishop is the focus of unity, since no church claims membership in the communion without being in communion with him. The present archbishop is
Justin Welby
.
- The
Lambeth Conference
[53]
(first held in 1867) is the oldest international consultation. It is a forum for bishops of the communion to reinforce unity and collegiality through manifesting the
episcopate
, to discuss matters of mutual concern, and to pass resolutions intended to act as guideposts. It is held roughly every ten years and invitation is by the archbishop of Canterbury.
- The
Anglican Consultative Council
[53]
(first met in 1971) was created by a 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, and meets usually at three-yearly intervals. The council consists of representative bishops, other clergy and laity chosen by the 38 provinces. The body has a permanent secretariat, the Anglican Communion Office, of which the archbishop of Canterbury is president.
- The
Primates' Meeting
[53]
(first met in 1979) is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop
Donald Coggan
as a forum for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation".
[54]
Since there is no binding authority in the Anglican Communion, these international bodies are a vehicle for consultation and persuasion. In recent times, persuasion has tipped over into debates over conformity in certain areas of doctrine, discipline, worship and ethics. The most notable example has been the objection of many provinces of the communion (particularly in Africa and Asia) to the changing acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in the North American churches (e.g., by
blessing same-sex unions
and ordaining and consecrating same-sex relationships) and to the process by which changes were undertaken. (See
Anglican realignment
)
Those who objected condemned these actions as unscriptural, unilateral, and without the agreement of the communion prior to these steps being taken. In response, the
American Episcopal Church
and the
Anglican Church of Canada
answered that the actions had been undertaken after lengthy scriptural and theological reflection, legally in accordance with their own
canons and constitutions
and after extensive consultation with the provinces of the communion.
The Primates' Meeting voted to request the two churches to withdraw their delegates from the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Canada and the United States decided to attend the meeting but without exercising their right to vote. They have not been expelled or suspended, since there is no mechanism in this voluntary association to suspend or expel an independent province of the communion. Since membership is based on a province's communion with Canterbury, expulsion would require the archbishop of Canterbury's refusal to be in communion with the affected jurisdictions. In line with the suggestion of the
Windsor Report
,
Rowan Williams
(the then archbishop of Canterbury) established a working group to examine the feasibility of an Anglican covenant which would articulate the conditions for communion in some fashion.
[55]
Organisation
[
edit
]
Provinces
[
edit
]
A world map showing the provinces of the Anglican Communion:
Autonomous churches
Episcopal Church of the United States
Church in the Province of the West Indies
Anglican Church in Central America
Anglican Church of South America
Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Church of the Province of Central Africa
Church of the Province of West Africa
|
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Church of the Province of Melanesia
Extra-provincial to the archbishop of Canterbury
Church of the Province of South East Asia
No organised Anglican presence
|
The
Church of Ireland
serves both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the
Anglican Church of Korea
serves South Korea and, theoretically, North Korea. Indian Anglicanism is divided into the Church of North India, the Church of South India and the Mar Thoma Church. The Diocese in Europe (formally the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe), in the Province of Canterbury, is also present in Portugal and Spain. The Episcopal Church, USA-affiliated Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe has affiliates in Austria, Belgium, France, Georgia, Germany and Italy.
The Anglican Communion consists of forty-two autonomous
provinces
each with its own
primate
and governing structure. These provinces may take the form of national churches (such as in Canada, Uganda, or Japan) or a collection of nations (such as the
West Indies
,
Central Africa
, or
Southeast Asia
).
Provinces
|
Territorial Jurisdiction
|
Membership (in thousands of people)
|
Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria
|
Algeria
,
Djibouti
,
Egypt
,
Ethiopia
,
Eritrea
,
Libya
,
Somalia
,
Tunisia
|
|
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
|
New Zealand
,
Cook Islands
,
Fiji
,
Samoa
,
Tonga
|
469
[56]
|
Anglican Church of Australia
|
Australia
|
3,100
[57]
|
Church of Bangladesh
|
Bangladesh
|
16
[58]
|
Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil
|
Brazil
|
120
[59]
|
Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi
|
Burundi
|
800
[60]
|
Anglican Church of Canada
|
Canada
|
294
[61]
|
Church of the Province of Central Africa
|
Botswana
,
Malawi
,
Zambia
,
Zimbabwe
|
900
[62]
|
Anglican Church in Central America
|
Costa Rica
,
El Salvador
,
Guatemala
,
Nicaragua
,
Panama
|
35
|
Anglican Church of Chile
|
Chile
|
20
[63]
|
Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo
|
Democratic Republic of the Congo
,
Republic of Congo
|
500
[64]
|
Church of England
|
England
,
Crown Dependencies
,
Europe
|
26,000
[65]
|
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
|
Hong Kong
,
Macau
|
29
[66]
|
Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
|
Madagascar
,
Mauritius
,
Seychelles
|
505
|
Church of Ireland
|
Republic of Ireland
,
Northern Ireland
|
375
[67]
|
Anglican Church in Japan
|
Japan
|
32
[68]
|
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
|
Bahrain
,
Cyprus
,
Iran
,
Iraq
,
Israel
,
Jordan
,
Kuwait
,
Lebanon
,
Oman
,
Palestine
,
Qatar
,
Saudi Arabia
,
Syria
,
United Arab Emirates
,
Yemen
|
40
[69]
|
Anglican Church of Kenya
|
Kenya
|
5,000
[70]
|
Anglican Church of Korea
|
South Korea
,
North Korea
|
65
[71]
|
Anglican Church of Melanesia
|
New Caledonia
,
Solomon Islands
,
Vanuatu
|
200
[72]
|
Anglican Church of Mexico
|
Mexico
|
100
[73]
|
Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola
|
Angola
and
Mozambique
|
500
[74]
|
Church of the Province of Myanmar
|
Myanmar
|
62
[75]
|
Church of Nigeria
|
Nigeria
|
18,000
[76]
|
Church of North India
|
Bhutan
,
India
|
1,500
[77]
|
Church of Pakistan
|
Pakistan
|
500
[78]
|
Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
|
Papua New Guinea
|
167
|
Episcopal Church in the Philippines
|
Philippines
|
125
[79]
|
Anglican Church of Rwanda
|
Rwanda
|
1,000
[80]
|
Scottish Episcopal Church
|
Scotland
|
24
[81]
|
Anglican Church of South America
|
Argentina
,
Bolivia
,
Paraguay
,
Peru
,
Uruguay
|
23
[82]
|
Church of the Province of South East Asia
|
Brunei
,
Cambodia
,
Indonesia
,
Laos
,
Malaysia
,
Nepal
,
Singapore
,
Thailand
,
Vietnam
|
98
|
Church of South India
|
India
,
Sri Lanka
|
3,800
[83]
|
Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
|
South Sudan
|
3,500
|
Anglican Church of Southern Africa
|
eSwatini
,
Lesotho
,
Namibia
,
Saint Helena
,
South Africa
|
3,000 ? 4,000
[84]
|
Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan
|
Sudan
|
1,100
|
Anglican Church of Tanzania
|
Tanzania
|
2,000
[85]
|
Church of Uganda
|
Uganda
|
8,000
[65]
|
Episcopal Church
|
British Virgin Islands
,
Colombia
,
Cuba
,
Dominican Republic
,
Ecuador
,
Europe
,
Guam
,
Haiti
,
Honduras
,
Northern Mariana Islands
,
Puerto Rico
,
Taiwan
,
United States
,
United States Virgin Islands
,
Venezuela
|
1,736
[86]
|
Church in Wales
|
Wales
|
46
[87]
|
Church of the Province of West Africa
|
Cameroon
,
Cape Verde
,
Gambia
,
Ghana
,
Guinea
,
Liberia
,
Senegal
,
Sierra Leone
|
300
[88]
|
Church in the Province of the West Indies
|
Anguilla
,
Antigua and Barbuda
,
Aruba
,
Bahamas
,
Barbados
,
Belize
,
Cayman Islands
,
Dominica
,
Grenada
,
Guyana
,
Jamaica
,
Montserrat
,
Saba
,
Saint Barthelemy
,
Saint Kitts and Nevis
,
Saint Lucia
,
Saint Martin
,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
,
Sint Eustatius
,
Trinidad and Tobago
,
Turks and Caicos Islands
|
770
[89]
|
In addition to the forty-two provinces, there are five extraprovincial churches under the
metropolitical
authority of the archbishop of Canterbury.
Former provinces
[
edit
]
New provinces in formation
[
edit
]
In September 2020, the Archbishop of Canterbury announced that he had asked the bishops of the Church of Ceylon to begin planning for the formation of an autonomous province of Ceylon, so as to end his current position as
metropolitan
of the two dioceses in that country.
[91]
Churches in full communion
[
edit
]
In addition to other member churches, the churches of the Anglican Communion are in
full communion
with the
Old Catholic
churches of the
Union of Utrecht
and the
Scandinavian
Lutheran
churches of the
Porvoo Communion
in Europe, the India-based
Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian
and
Malabar Independent Syrian
churches and the
Philippine Independent Church
, also known as the Aglipayan Church.
Ecumenical relations
[
edit
]
Historic episcopate
[
edit
]
The churches of the Anglican Communion have traditionally held that ordination in the
historic episcopate
is a core element in the validity of clerical ordinations.
The Roman Catholic Church, however, does not recognise Anglican orders (see
Apostolicae curae
).
Some
Eastern Orthodox
churches have issued statements to the effect that Anglican orders could be accepted, yet have still reordained former Anglican clergy; other Eastern Orthodox churches have rejected Anglican orders altogether. Orthodox bishop
Kallistos Ware
explains this apparent discrepancy as follows:
Anglican clergy who join the Orthodox Church are reordained; but [some Orthodox churches hold that] if Anglicanism and Orthodoxy were to reach full unity in the faith, perhaps such reordination might not be found necessary. It should be added, however, that a number of individual Orthodox theologians hold that under no circumstances would it be possible to recognise the validity of Anglican Orders.
[94]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
With various theological and doctrinal identities, including Anglo-Catholic, Liberal, Evangelical
- ^
Efforts to grow and develop the church in lands outside the British Isles began with the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
(1698) and the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
(1701) but received a significant boost from the
Church Mission Society
(1799).
- ^
The Church Missionary Society, originally called the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, was founded in 1799... Though later in date than the S.P.C.K. and the S.P.G. it became the first effective organ of the C. of E. for missions to the heathen... Its theology has been consistently Evangelical.
- ^
The
Chair of St Augustine
is the seat of the archbishop of Canterbury in his role as head of the Anglican Communion. Archbishops of Canterbury are enthroned twice: firstly as diocesan ordinary (and metropolitan and primate of the
Church of England
) in the archbishop's throne, by the
archdeacon of Canterbury
; and secondly as leader of the worldwide church in the Chair of St Augustine by the senior (by length of service) archbishop of the Anglican Communion. The stone chair is therefore of symbolic significance throughout Anglicanism.
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
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- ^
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[
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{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
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Sources
[
edit
]
- Avis, Paul (1998). "What is 'Anglicanism'?". In Booty, John E.;
Sykes, Stephen
; Knight, Jonathan (eds.).
The Study of Anglicanism
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978-1-4514-1118-8
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Further reading
[
edit
]
- Buchanan, Colin.
Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism
(2nd ed. 2015)
excerpt
Archived
1 April 2019 at the
Wayback Machine
- D'Arcy, Charles Frederick; Jayne, Francis John; Paige Cox, W.L. (1923).
Anglican Essays: A Collective Review of the Principles and Special Opportunities of the Anglican Communion as Catholic and Reformed : with Extracts from the Pastorals of the Late Bishop Jayne [Francis John Jayne]
. Macmillan.
- Fahlbusch, Erwin; Bromiley, Geoffrey William, eds. (1999).
The Encyclopedia of Christianity
. Vol. 1. Eerdmans. pp. 57?59.
ISBN
978-90-04-11316-9
.
- Hebert, A. G.
The Form of the Church
. London: Faber and Faber, 1944.
- Wild, John.
What is the Anglican Communion?,
in series,
The Advent Papers
. Cincinnati, Ohio: Forward Movement Publications, [196-].
Note
.: Expresses the "Anglo-Catholic" viewpoint.
External links
[
edit
]
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